Parenting style may shape political views of offspring

Asian News International:

A new study has linked parenting practices and temperament in childhood to later political ideology.

Existing research suggests that individuals whose parents espoused authoritarian attitudes toward parenting (e.g., valuing obedience to authority) are more likely to endorse conservative values as adults.

And theory from political psychology on motivated social cognition suggests that children who have fearful temperaments may be more likely to hold conservative ideologies as adults. Unfortunately, almost all of the existing research looking at these two factors suffers from significant methodological shortcomings.

Specifically, the majority of this research has been retrospective-relying on adult’s recollections of their early temperaments and their early caregiving experiences.

Read the whole story: Asian News International